Databricks Expands EMEA Leadership Team as Growth and Adoption of Data Intelligence Accelerates

• Nico Gaviola joins as Vice President, Emerging Enterprise and Digital Natives, and Daniel Holz joins as Vice President, Central Europe
• Data Intelligence pioneer continued to train the EMEA data and AI community with a series of Data Intelligence Days across the region

London, United Kingdom - May 6, 2025 — Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced the appointment of two new senior leaders to its EMEA team: Nico Gaviola as Vice President, Emerging Enterprise and Digital Natives, and Daniel Holz as Vice President, Central Europe. Both will be instrumental in scaling adoption of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

These appointments reflect Databricks' strong momentum following its announcement of $15 billion in financing in January 2025 to fuel global growth and attract top AI talent. The company has also recently expanded its strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Anthropic, Meta, Palantir, and SAP.

Building the Future of Data Intelligence in EMEA
Nico Gaviola brings over a decade of leadership experience from Google Cloud, where he was Director of Data and AI, South EMEA. At Databricks, he will help emerging enterprises and digital native businesses such as Flo Health, Kraken, and Skyscanner seamlessly adopt the Data Intelligence Platform, accelerating business outcomes from AI adoption.

“I’m thrilled to join Databricks at such a pivotal time for AI adoption amongst emerging enterprises and digital natives,“ said Nico Gaviola, VP Emerging Enterprise and Digital Natives, Databricks. “There are so many exciting startups emerging in EMEA, and these innovative, cloud-native businesses have a real opportunity to leverage Gen AI in a fast, secure, and governed manner. The Data Intelligence Platform provides the perfect foundation for rapid experimentation, and I’m proud to be part of the fast-growing EMEA team.”

Daniel Holz joins from Oracle, where he was Senior Vice President of North East Europe, responsible for leading the cloud technology division. He has also held leadership positions at Google Cloud and SAP. In his new role, he will drive local customer adoption of the Data Intelligence Platform, strengthen local partnerships, and continue to grow the Central Europe team in core markets such as Germany and Switzerland.

“The opportunity for data and AI to transform enterprises across Germany and the Central Europe region is huge, and I’m proud to join a company pioneering data intelligence,” said Daniel Holz, VP, Central Europe, Databricks. “Our region is home to customers using data and AI for tangible business impact, such as adidas, Bayer, Mercedes Benz, Porsche Holding, and many more. With Databricks’ exciting go-to-market partnership with SAP in particular, we are strategically placed to help even more customers adopt the Data Intelligence Platform.”

“I am delighted to welcome Nico and Daniel to Databricks EMEA. Their experience and expertise will no doubt help more digital native, emerging enterprise, and Central European customers adopt the full capabilities of the Data Intelligence Platform for scale and continued growth. I wish Nico and Daniel every success in their roles,” said Samuel Bonamigo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA.

Growing EMEA footprint and Data Intelligence Days Event series signal strong demand for data and AI talent, expertise, and training
In the last fiscal year, Databricks opened several new offices in EMEA, including new locations in Aarhus, Belgrade, Madrid and Riyadh. In the second half of the year, it unveiled a new seven-storey EMEA hub office in central London, opened a new Paris office, and expanded its existing office space in Amsterdam. These new and expanded office locations house Databricks’ growing EMEA team. By the end of its last fiscal year, Databricks had over 1,400 employees in the region.

In addition to hiring and attracting the best AI talent across the region, Databricks is committed to training the data and AI community and its customer base. Over the last couple of years, over 30,000 data and AI practitioners in EMEA have been trained on Databricks technology via self-paced learning, virtual sessions, private classes, and in-person events, such as the flagship Data and AI World Tour and Data Intelligence Day event series.

This year’s Data Intelligence Day Series spanned 17 cities across EMEA, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Manchester, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Zurich, and two events in London. Aimed at data and AI practitioners, these events offered an introduction to the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform with dedicated in-person training sessions.

“Democratising data and AI across an organisation with an open, scalable data intelligence platform is how EMEA enterprises - whatever their size and location - will succeed in today’s market,” concludes Bonamigo. “With a growing team, rapid expansion, and our ability to train the wider data and AI community, we are perfectly positioned to help our customers navigate the fast-paced world of Gen AI adoption.”

About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Block, Comcast, Condé Nast, Rivian, Shell and over 60% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to take control of their data and put it to work with AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on X, LinkedIn and Facebook.